Dian Maya Safitri

It is such an honour for me to be part of an amazing team (Avengers) comprising United Nations colleagues, five governmental institutions/ministries, and a team of international and national consultants to develop the first-ever national study on the impact of COVID-19 on older persons (including older persons with disabilities). This national study covered 8000 older persons respondents in 40 selected districts/municipalities.

I supported these Avengers as a coordinator and convener responsible for various tasks--drafted the concept note, assisted the administrative arrangements on the field, organized validation meetings to get feedbacks from stakeholders, and networked with geriatric experts—with tremendous supports and hard works from all team members, enumerators, and colleagues from central and local governments.

This report was finalized and launched in June 2022 by inviting the Japanese Embassy to Indonesia, as the main donor who had generously granted USD 90.000 for this study implementation.

Now I no longer work with these Avengers, but I am so grateful with their priceless patience and kindness to weather the storms throughout the process of this study.

This paper describes a religious phenomenon at the Sam Po Kong temple in Semarang. I argue that the syncretism there is the result of cultural and religious interconnections between Javanese abangan, Islam, Taoism, and Buddhism. The beginning of this paper will depict the historical explorations of Cheng Ho, the principal figure in this Sam Po Kong shrine. The next part describes several instances of Javanese abangan, Islamic, Taoist, and Buddhist influences in this pantheon. The remainder of this paper will argue that the notion of Oneness of God believed by Sam Po Kong members is the result of political influences in Indonesia. The Amalgamation of Javanese Abangan, Islam, Taoism and Buddhism in the Sam Po Kong Shrine

This paper attempts to discuss several current issues about the veil. Three  countries are selected, namely France, Iran, and Indonesia, due to their different policies and perspectives concerning the veil. Using discourse analysis, this paper examines the violation of human rights, particularly those of Muslim women, by the ban of the veil in France and the obligation to wear it in Iran. Finally, inspired by the theoretical work of Gramsci, this paper analyzes how the  terms “secular” and “religious“ are used by the state to justify their hegemony over certain minority groups. Moreover, this paper offers the “correct concept of  secularism” as that entails civic reason, constitutionalism, and human-rights based citizenship, and proposed by An-Na’im as the best avenue to safeguard the problem of human rights in France and Iran. The remainder of this paper discusses Indonesia, the largest Moslem country in the world, that is, in fact, “a secular country” based on Pancasila, which res...

This paper discusses three main ideas; tolerance, pluralism, and cultural legitimacy. By
taking Pesantren Khusus Waria Al-Fattah as the illustration, this article proposes an
example of how a religious, political, social, and sexual marginalized community can live
in harmony with other communities. In this paper, the author believed that pluralism
means the legitimacy of all kinds of ‘difference’ instead of solely seen by the existence of
difference itself. Furthermore, this article aims to provide information on the importance
of the legitimacy of the culture (cultural legitimacy) which is driven by both elite and community in order to provide equal rights for its citizens, including those who considered as
“other”.

What is the purpose of human life that economic policies should endorse and promote? If it is happiness, how does self-reported happiness compare with other measures of well-being such as capabilities, human flourishing, opportunities, freedom and so on? As we learn more and more how relationships are key to happiness, should economics abandon its methodology based on individualism and consider also the family and other communitarian dimensions of human life as legitimate agents of social welfare? And finally, what are the socio-economic policies that foster all these dimensions? These proposed recommendations explore new and more happiness-friendly ways of assessing, measuring and pursuing well-being in worldwide practices and public policies both from macro and microeconomic perspectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the vital importance of digital connectivity for governments and society as a whole, particularly for persons with disabilities to enable them access essential services remotely.

However, persons with disabilities remain the most marginalized and excluded groups in the post-pandemic digital world because they have to face barriers related to digital inclusion, such as inaccessible websites, apps, and devices.

To address these challenges, it is crucial to ensure that digital technologies are designed with accessibility in mind, and that people with disabilities have access to assistive technologies.

This book proposes a new approach to economics, starting from the commons and based on the Economy of Francesco (EoF), a worldwide movement of young people who aim to change the current economic models and working towards a fair, sustainable, and inclusive economic system. EoF was convened by Pope Francis and is inspired by the example of St. Francis of Assisi, featuring Franciscan economic roots and institutions, as well as theories of the social sciences.

The authors raise and answer several important questions throughout the volume, such as: What if the economic courses taught in the universities across the globe focused their attention on the topics of the commons rather than on private goods? What if social businesses, rather than being considered as a hybrid form of businesses, became the normal approach, and ethical and green finance ruled over the standard financial sector? Is it possible to move away from the primacy of the consumers to the preeminence of ethical consumers who express their preferences for an inclusive, sustainable, and workers-friendly economic system with their daily choices?


Using a unique approach, the book includes the contributions of prominent scholars which are integrated and discussed by young international scholars, providing a fresh analysis with a glance of hope for the future. The book is a must-read for students, scholars, and researchers of economics and related disciplines interested in alternatives to the current economic mainstream in general, and the Economy of Francesco in particular.

More information about this book : https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-23324-1#about-this-book

Il volume propone la rivisitazione di alcune parole chiave del discorso economico attraverso la prospettiva etica maturata nel contesto di The Economy of Francesco, a partire dal suo sviluppo nel 2020. Le riflessioni di giovani ricercatrici e ricercatori che partecipano al movimento internazionale EoF invitano i lettori a confrontarsi con gli strumenti concettuali alla base del pensiero economico dominante, ripensandoli in forme etiche, inclusive e pluraliste ispirate dall’esortazione mistica ricevuta da Francesco d’Assisi – va’ e ripara la mia casa.

In Collaboration with KOMNAS PEREMPUAN (the National Commission of Violence against Women) and with the generous financial support from the Japanese government, UNFPA developed a manual to collect data on the needs and challenges experienced by women with disabilities and older women to access sexual and reproductive health information and services in five locations : Situbondo (East Java Province), Bekasi (West Java Province), Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Special Province), Cirebon (West Java Province), and Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara Province). Data collection was derived from questionnaire, field visits, and interviews with various stakeholders (including customary leaders, religious figures, and village chiefs).